diff --git a/cmd/fluxctl/await.go b/cmd/fluxctl/await.go
index bb1cc4bdd..f043084d6 100644
--- a/cmd/fluxctl/await.go
+++ b/cmd/fluxctl/await.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ var ErrTimeout = errors.New("timeout")
 
 // await polls for a job to complete, then for the resulting commit to
 // be applied
-func await(ctx context.Context, stdout, stderr io.Writer, client api.Server, jobID job.ID, apply bool, verbosity int, timeout int) error {
+func await(ctx context.Context, stdout, stderr io.Writer, client api.Server, jobID job.ID, apply bool, verbosity int, timeout time.Duration) error {
 	result, err := awaitJob(ctx, client, jobID, timeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		if err == ErrTimeout {
@@ -61,9 +61,9 @@ to run a sync interactively.`)
 }
 
 // await polls for a job to have been completed, with exponential backoff.
-func awaitJob(ctx context.Context, client api.Server, jobID job.ID, timeout int) (job.Result, error) {
+func awaitJob(ctx context.Context, client api.Server, jobID job.ID, timeout time.Duration) (job.Result, error) {
 	var result job.Result
-	err := backoff(100*time.Millisecond, 2, 50, time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second, func() (bool, error) {
+	err := backoff(100*time.Millisecond, 2, 50, timeout, func() (bool, error) {
 		j, err := client.JobStatus(ctx, jobID)
 		if err != nil {
 			return false, err
@@ -86,8 +86,8 @@ func awaitJob(ctx context.Context, client api.Server, jobID job.ID, timeout int)
 }
 
 // await polls for a commit to have been applied, with exponential backoff.
-func awaitSync(ctx context.Context, client api.Server, revision string, timeout int) error {
-	return backoff(1*time.Second, 2, 10, time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second, func() (bool, error) {
+func awaitSync(ctx context.Context, client api.Server, revision string, timeout time.Duration) error {
+	return backoff(1*time.Second, 2, 10, timeout, func() (bool, error) {
 		refs, err := client.SyncStatus(ctx, revision)
 		return err == nil && len(refs) == 0, err
 	})
diff --git a/cmd/fluxctl/root_cmd.go b/cmd/fluxctl/root_cmd.go
index 6678a9848..d9c7f54a7 100644
--- a/cmd/fluxctl/root_cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/fluxctl/root_cmd.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -23,7 +24,7 @@ type rootOpts struct {
 	Namespace string
 	Labels    map[string]string
 	API       api.Server
-	Timeout   int
+	Timeout   time.Duration
 }
 
 func newRoot() *rootOpts {
@@ -77,9 +78,8 @@ func (opts *rootOpts) Command() *cobra.Command {
 		fmt.Sprintf("Base URL of the Flux API (defaults to %q if a token is provided); you can also set the environment variable %s", defaultURLGivenToken, envVariableURL))
 	cmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&opts.Token, "token", "t", "",
 		fmt.Sprintf("Weave Cloud authentication token; you can also set the environment variable %s or %s", envVariableCloudToken, envVariableToken))
-	cmd.PersistentFlags().IntVar(&opts.Timeout, "timeout", 60,
-		fmt.Sprintf("Global command timeout, in seconds; you can also set the environment variable %s", envVariableTimeout))
-
+	cmd.PersistentFlags().DurationVar(&opts.Timeout, "timeout", 60*time.Second,
+		fmt.Sprintf("Global command timeout; you can also set the environment variable %s", envVariableTimeout))
 	cmd.AddCommand(
 		newVersionCommand(),
 		newImageList(opts).Command(),